LITERARY NOTICES. 



417 



vented that pre-empting of the field which 

 would have been given by controlling patents 

 at a time when the art was ripe for develop- 

 ment. Various miscellaneous matters, that 

 could not well find a place in the body of the 

 work, are treated in an appendix. 



Silk Dyeing, Printing, and Finishing. By 

 George H. Hurst. London and New 

 York : George Bell and Sons, 1892. Pp. 

 226. Price, $2. 



This is one of the series of technological 

 handbooks, edited by Sir Trueman Wood, 

 Secretary of the Society of Arts, and, like the 

 rest of the series to which it belongs, is ex- 

 cellently done. It is addressed especially 

 to those concerned with the art of which it 

 treats, but is of interest as well to the gen- 

 eral reader who may care to know something 

 about an extensive and important industry. 

 The book is made up of a series of papers 

 contributed by the author to the Dyer and 

 Calico Printer, which have been largely 

 recast, and of additional chapters on silk 

 printing and finishing, and testing dyed 

 silks. The author treats of silk fibers, how 

 they are produced by the silkworm, the meth- 

 od of handling the fiber and reeling it, how it 

 is dyed, and now printing is performed. In 

 an appendix he gives a number of recipes for 

 the preparation of color compositions and in 

 a number of plates at the end of the volume 

 he gives samples of dyed materials both of 

 the fiber and the woven goods. 



The Science of Nutrition. By Edward At- 

 kinson. Pp. 1*79. 



Mr. Edward Atkinson, the well-known 

 writer on economic and kindred subjects, 

 has in recent years been devoting his atten- 

 tion to the subject of cooking, and has 

 reached some startling conclusions. He con- 

 tends that the present method of quick cook- 

 ing at high temperatures is a fundamental 

 mistake ; that cooking should be done slowly 

 at temperatures of from 300° to 400°, and 

 in closed vessels which will retain all the 

 vapors and juices. He has found by ex- 

 tended experimenting that when this is done 

 the amount of heat required is but a fraction 

 of that now used, and has in consequence 

 devised an oven in which a meal for six or 

 eight persons can be cooked over an ordi- 

 nary kerosene lamp, such as the Rochester. 

 VOL. xlii. — 28 



His apparatus, which he terms " the Aladdin 

 oven," is simplicity itself. It consists of a 

 box made of non-conducting material, such 

 as paper or wood, in the upper part of which 

 is placed an oven of thin sheet metal. The 

 oven is smaller than the box, so that there is 

 a space all around it for the circulation of 

 the hot products of combustion from the 

 lamp, which sets in the oven portion of the 

 box. The oven is provided with trays upon 

 which different articles may be placed. Mr. 

 Atkinson claims that bread may be baked, 

 meat roasted, fish and vegetables cooked in 

 a much superior manner than by current 

 methods. Cereals, such as oatmeal, hominy, 

 etc., can be cooked overnight, so that the 

 longer time required is not a feature that 

 presents any difficulties. 



The present volume is made up of an ad- 

 dress by Mr. Atkinson at Columbia College 

 on The Science of Nutrition, of description 

 of the oven and the work it does, and elab- 

 orate data upon the value of foods, and the 

 quantities of the different classes of foods 

 necessary for healthy adults. If Mr. Atkin- 

 son's contention is well founded, and it ap- 

 pears to be abundantly so by the data he 

 submits, he has made a very distinct step in 

 advance in the important field of domestic 

 economy, and his labor is one with which 

 every housewife should make it a point of 

 becoming acquainted. 



Questions and Answers about Electricity. 

 A First Book for Students. Edited by E. 

 T. Bubier. Bubier Publishing Co., Lynn, 

 Mass., 1892. Pp. 100. Price, 50 cents. 



Of the making of popular books upon 

 electricity and its applications there appears 

 to be no end. Many of these are of value 

 and of real help to the readers to whom they 

 are addressed, while many more are quite 

 useless. To this latter class belongs the 

 present book. Although four writers have 

 contributed to its make-up, and the entire 

 work has probably undergone the scrutiny of 

 each of its authors, they have failed in pro- 

 ducing anything approaching an adequate 

 treatment of the subject. The book is ad- 

 dressed to beginners, presumably those who 

 know nothing of the subject, and conse- 

 quently should be a clear and concise pres- 

 entation of the subject, beginning with the 

 simplest phenomena and advancing by steps 



